Football Notes: Arsenal Prepares For Visit From As Many As 20,000 Cologne Fans

September 13, 2017

Arsenal is "braced for a mass invasion" by thousands of "fanatical" Bundesliga side Cologne supporters. The German club has an allocation of 3,000 tickets for the Europa League opener at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday. But "there have been reports that as many as 20,000 are preparing to travel to London." Arsenal has "tried to close down opportunities for Germans to acquire tickets in the home end" (London DAILY MAIL, 9/12).
South African football execs agreed that a 2018 World Cup qualifying match against Senegal should be replayed "on ethical and moral grounds." FIFA ordered the replay after the referee for the original game, Joseph Lamptey, was banned for manipulating the match. The South African FA "had been considering an appeal but now says it agrees" with FIFA (BBC, 9/12).

As Miguel Maduro, who was "axed as head of FIFA's governance committee last May during a purge of senior ethics watchdogs," prepared for his appearance before a British parliamentary committee on Tuesday, "it has come to light that both of FIFA's former ethics chiefs are also set to go public" to discuss their time at the organization and the "controversial circumstances of their removal." Maduro will be joined by Cornel Borbély and Hans-Joachim Eckert, the former heads of FIFA's ethics investigatory and adjudication bodies (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 9/12).

Tickets for the 2018 World Cup will go on sale on Thursday and will be sold in two phases, the first of which has an application period which runs from Sept. 14-Oct. 12. Fans can apply for individual match tickets, tickets for a specific venue or "ticket strips to follow the national team of their choice in this phase." The first phase then concludes with a period between Nov. 16 and Nov. 28 during which tickets "will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis." The second phase has also been split. The first runs from Dec. 5-Jan. 31. From March 13 to April 3, tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis (REUTERS, 9/12).